“Dalits there are still not allowed to use common pathway”
Police trying to suppress Dalits, alleges CPI (M) rural district secretary
MADURAI: Despite the direct intervention of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in removing the ‘untouchability' wall at Uthapuram near here, untouchability is being practised in many forms in the village, according to volunteers of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front.
“Only the wall at Uthapuram has been removed. But, the Dalits there are still not allowed to use the common pathway,” said its general secretary K. Samuel Raj. The district administration gloated in removing the wall, but there were several symbols of untouchability in the village, he told reporters here on Friday.
The Dalits were still denied permission to offer worship to the ‘arasamaram' (pipal tree). “The Muthalamman temple and the tree are very much on government land. But, the Dalits are prevented from offering their prayers by constructing a wall across the approach pathway from the Dalit residential area,” he said.
Mr. Raj said that the attitude of the police in dealing with the Dalits was peculiar. “At least in nine cases, the police included a minimum of 100 unnamed persons, including women, as accused. This practice is only to ensure that the police can arrest any person anytime. In some of the cases, the number of unnamed accused is 300 to 500.”
Eleven Dalits, who had come out on bail in connection with one of the recent cases on July 2, were arrested immediately in a 2008 case and remanded again. “One of them [unnamed accused], Ganesan, who was on military duty elsewhere when the incident relating to the 2008 case took place, has also been arrested,” he said.
Instead of supporting the people who were struggling for their democratic rights, the police were trying to suppress them to ensure that there could not be any more Dalit upsurge, Communist Party of India (Marxist) rural district secretary C. Ramakrishnan said.
District secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association, S.K. Ponnuthai, said police personnel camping in the village ensured that the Dalits did not use the common pathway. “They are sitting near the place where the wall once stood and not allowing people from both sides to cross to the other side. They claim that people from both sides crossing over to other side will lead to law and order problem.”
The party's urban district secretary, R. Annadurai, said that the police and the district administration had not allowed the utilisation of local area development funds given by CPI (M) Rajya Sabha member T.K. Rangarajan for constructing a bus shelter on vacant government land. “The police claim it will trigger law and order problem.”
Mr. Annadurai alleged that the caste Hindus did not want the Dalits to share the bus shelter with them. “They think that the Dalits will become equal to them by sharing the seat,” he said.
The CPI (M) and the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front will lay siege to the district Collector's office here on Monday to highlight the plight of Dalits. Mr. Rangarajan, will lead the protest
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